Bernal Heights Community Garden

Last week I got a spot in my neighborhood's community garden.



You've been here before.

This land is on a south-facing slope near the top of a hill.



Emphases on "slope", and "top of a hill". It's rather like gardening in the nosebleed section of a baseball stadium.



But it's quaint.



And the views are great.



That hump in the distance is Candlestick Point, and there's a sports stadium there where the San Francisco Giants used to play, and where the 49ers play now. (And where the Beatles played their final concert.) I've never seen a football game there, but my grandparents dragged me to countless baseball games. I like baseball, but it's a miserable place to see a game--bitterly cold and windy and depressing as hell is how I remember it. They need to tear that monstrosity down and re-build, which is something they're talking about. I think the county sheriff lives in that creamy yellow house.

Anyhow, back to the garden.

Twenty dollars a year buys me this strip of land, access to community tools, and water. I came last week to turn the weeds under and mulch. I sowed carrots and beets. Later I'll add pumpkin and a tomato. And one Lupinus densiflorus annual (germinating downstairs right now).



I put those rocks down so I'd have a place to put my feet without walking on the bed.

I inherited those tomato cages and these two strawberries from the previous gardener. Here they are, post-deluge from hose-watering.



(The succulent I put there myself after breaking off a piece from a plant growing on public land.)

My garden-neighbor has quite the elaborate anti-bug system in place. Will it work? Is it a good idea? Who's going to pollinate his flowers? My solution to the problem would be to not grow Brassicaceae. The bugs devastated my broccoli last year. Perhaps I'll get to know him/her better, and get the scoop on the screened-in vegetable garden for us.



There's the key to the shed.



There's the shed.



What's inside?

Tools.



Notices of gardening workshops.



The key to the water.



The faucet's in the middle of the garden.



Is there anything else to see?















I love my funky neighborhood.





We're done here. Walk in the park?



I always like to see what's posted on the bulletin board.











This is what it looked like at noon in San Francisco on March 4, 2007.



This post was brought to you by Ebenezer the Wonder Poodle.

(FYI: you can find other such posts at different times of year by clicking my Bernal Heights del.icio.us tag.)